Northwest Trek Wildlife Park is a Great Family Outing on Thanksgiving Weekend

Holiday Weekend hours: 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 28-30

So, you’re stuffed full of turkey or other traditional Thanksgiving dishes, and you’re looking for a great way to get some fresh air, exercise (have to walk off those holiday calories, right?) and spend some time with family.

There’s no better place to do that during Thanksgiving Weekend than at Northwest Trek Wildlife Park near Eatonville. You can get there in less than an hour from just about anywhere in the South Sound. And once you enter the grounds, there’s an ahhh factor. You find green, forested acreage, a friendly, knowledgeable staff and animals you won’t see anywhere else.

Then, there’s the awe factor.

Visitors can check out the 18-month-old Canada lynx brothers who arrived at Northwest Trek last spring. Or look for the 6-year-old brother and sister black bears, who also arrived last spring.

And, of course, there’s the signature, 50-minute tour through the wildlife park’s Free-Roaming Area, which is home to American bison, Roosevelt elk, moose, deer, bighorn sheep and other animals. Some get so close to your tram, you can see their breath steaming in the brisk fall day. The tram tours are narrated by naturalists, so visitors get a great deal of information about the animals and the history of the wildlife park.

And because it’s November, here’s an interesting animal to spotlight.

Look for our turkey vulture on the walking tour as you take a route along paved pathways that also lead to exhibits of Canada lynx, bobcats, cougars, gray wolves, foxes, coyotes, beavers, river otters, raccoons, black bears, grizzly bears and more.

Turkey vultures are large, dark raptors named because their large, red head and dark feathers bear resemblance to wild male turkeys.

For more information and directions to Northwest Trek, go to www.nwtrek.org.